Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make
by Tiny Q
Summary: All that Ginny had to do was go into his mind and solve his little issue then get out and live the rest of her life in peace. However, life is never that simple. Ferret armies? The return of Mullet Harry? Will she ever get out? D/G
1. Enter the Matrix

Title: Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make

Author: Tiny Q

E-Mail: one_legged_lesbian_seagull@hotmail.com

A/N: Well, I finally decided to write a sequel.  I really enjoyed writing the first one and I hope this one will be just as fun.  But I must say to all who have not read Fragments, please read it first!  Otherwise this one will make no sense.  Well it could make sense, but it will also ruin the other story.  Just to warn you.  Now please, sit back, relax and enjoy the read.  ~grin~

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine!  Nothing!  ~runs around screaming for Tiny Q does not own her sanity either~

**Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make******

**Chapter 1**

**Enter the Matrix**

~*~

            Ginny Weasley sat in the cafe, drearily looking out the window.  Everything was so different from what she had expected her life to be like.  And the weather outside seemed to prove this: it was supposed to be sunny outside today, not raining.  Not that she minded the rain that much these days.  Lately it had caused her to become cheerful because she knew few others would be.  But apparently not today.

            When Ginny had been younger she had always imagined that she would get a great job, find the man of her dreams, marry him then live happily ever after while having half a dozen kids.  Well perhaps not that many kids, but hey, you never know.  But this dream of hers never happened.  She had a rather dull job as a secretary for a broom making company.  The pay was good and she got to talk to all the Quiddtich players who showed up, but it still almost wasn't worth it.

            She had thought she had found the man of her dreams, but that had fallen through years ago.  And now she was having problems finding a decent replacement, let alone a perfect one.  It just seemed that none of the men compared, even if it had been over five years.

            Since she had no dream guy she couldn't have a wedding and thus couldn't get married.  And that pretty much eliminated the option of having kids.  She wasn't too keen on becoming a single parent with those half dozen screaming brats.  

            But usually all this didn't make Ginny feel down.  In fact, she was usually quite happy.  But lately things had begun to press down on her.  She was realizing that perhaps she would never live a happy life with someone else but rather live the rest of her life in solitude and loneliness.  She glared at the rain harder, beginning to resent it.  Not even the rain lived in loneliness.  

            Ginny probably would have continued to think along these lines until she decided to leave the cafe, go and take a long walk in the rain then die of pneumonia for the simple sake of it.  Yet none of this would happen because someone began to speak to her, distracting her and keeping her in the cafe where it was warm and dry.

            "Ginny?" this someone asked from behind her.  She recognized the voice in an instant for it was a voice that was often in her office.  Along with a body of course.  Harry Potter was sponsored by her company after all.

            "Yes, Harry?" she asked simply, making the stool she was on swirl around so she could face him.  She smiled slightly, ignoring his well toned body.  He was like her brother after all and she didn't think she would ever be able to see him as anything but, especially after that mullet incident.  "What can I do for you?"

            "I need your help," he said flatly.  Ginny's eyebrows rose and he seemed to take this as an invitation to sit down, for that is just what he did, taking the stool next to her.  'Not one to extend greetings is he?' she thought darkly, swirling back around to face the window.

            "What can I possibly help you with Harry?" she asked, once again glaring at the rain.  "I can't get you any more deals on brooms if that's what you're after."

            "This doesn't have to do with Quidditch type help, Gin," he said softly, some emotion coming back into his voice.  "It's more Order type help.  And it's not exactly for me either."

            "Oh?" she asked, turning away from the window to face the Boy Who Lived properly.  He wasn't quite as handsome as she had always thought he would turn out to be.  She figured that it was all his battles with Bludgers and Death Eaters that had done it, leaving him to have an aura about him rather than looks.  "Well, if I'm not helping you, then who am I helping?"

            He muttered something under his breath that she just didn't catch.

            "What was that?" she asked, ignoring the rain as it pounded harder against the window pane.  

            "Draco Malfoy," Harry said, speaking louder this time.  

            Ginny's heart stopped for an instant and her mind began to whirl.  Draco was in trouble?  Something was wrong?  How could she possibly help him?  Then her senses kicked in and told those thoughts to fuck off.  

            "And _why would I want to help him exactly?" Ginny sneered, not really caring that Harry winced at her words._

            "I knew this was going to be a lot harder than they said," he grumbled, looking away from her.  He seemed to examine the table for a moment collecting his thoughts, then raised his eyes and looked at her again.  "Because you are the only one who _can help him, Gin."_

            "I highly doubt that," she hissed, turning away and glaring moodily out the window.  "There is nothing I can ever do for him that will help."

            "He's in a coma, Gin," Harry persisted.  "The Death Eaters caught him unawares and the mediwizards are saying that he might never wake up again."

            "So," Ginny hissed, yet it didn't have quite the same vehemence as before.

            Harry glared at her.  She glared back.

            "How can I help him then?" she demanded defensively after a moment.  "I never took any medical courses."

            "No, but you have experience with other people's minds," the black haired man said gently.

            "So what are you saying then?" she asked, beginning to get a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.  

            "The Order wants you to go into Malfoy's mind and pull him out."  

            Ginny stared at him.  Then she started to laugh.

            "Are you serious?" she demanded.  "Me?  Go into Malfoy's mind?  Does the man have no one closer to him?  Is he that much of a loser?"  She continued to laugh, ignoring Harry's shocked face.  

            "I knew you wouldn't do it," Harry suddenly hissed, turning serious and causing her to stop laughing completely.  "I knew you would be too scared."

            "Scared of a Malfoy?" Ginny demanded.  "Never."

            "Then I don't see what the big deal is then," Harry snapped.  Ginny looked at him in surprise.  Why would he want Malfoy to wake up so badly?  Sure the guy was a member of the Order but the two of them never did get along and Ginny suspected they never would, even if they had to work side by side.  "All you have to do is go in there and get him out.  No biggie."

            "No biggie," she sneered.  "No biggie?  Are you kidding me?  It is a huge biggie!  And I refuse to do it.  I refuse to do anything for that bloody Order and I refuse to save that complete ass!  I will never ever do it."

**Three Hours Later**

            Ginny found herself standing outside the hospital room which contained one badly beaten and comatose Draco Malfoy.  She wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but she had argued herself into a corner and Harry had caught her.  Now the words: "Never say never, Gin" kept echoing through her head.  She resisted the urge to growl

            'Since when did he become so devious,' she thought angrily, glaring at the Boy Who Lived standing beside her, grinning as though he had just won the Quidditch World Cup.  For the fourth time.

            "After you," he said, opening the door to reveal a medium sized room with two beds placed in the center.  Side by side.  Ginny suppressed a shudder and looked around letting her eyes rest on anything but the person occupying the bed on the left hand side.  There were several other people in the room, most of whom she didn't recognize, the rest she whished she didn't.  

            "Weasley, so good of you to join us," Podmore sneered, from his position in the corner.  Ginny suppressed a glare for him as well as an articulately placed finger.  The two of them had had a major falling out a while back, and it seemed that things were getting worse, not better.

            "It's my pleasure," she sneered, trying to sound as sweet as she could but came off as rather daft.  She didn't really care.

            "So this is her?" a witch dressed in a St. Mungo's uniform asked from the other side of the room.  Everyone nodded.  She turned to Ginny, and smiled.  "You've been told what's going to happen?" she asked in a polite voice that contrasted perfectly with Podmore's.  

            "Yes, Harry told me," Ginny said, trying to keep the resentment out of her voice.  

            "Good," the nurse said cheerfully.  "Less for me to do then I suppose."  She grinned a little grin.  Ginny felt butterflies unleash themselves in her stomach.  She told them to stop it.  "Now will you please lie down on the bed beside Mr. Malfoy and we can begin."

            Ginny turned to face the man she hadn't seen in almost five years.  He wasn't anything like she remembered, but then he was covered in bandages and half his hair was missing.  She frowned, he really was a mess.  'What the hell did they do to you?' she wondered, feeling the butterflies get a little antsier.  She told them to shove it.

            Taking a bit of a breath and glancing at Harry for unnecessary support, she walked towards the bed and carefully climbed on, minding her skirt.  Harry smiled at her, seeming to sense her nervousness.  She glared back, trying to say that he should be the one lying here and not her.  But he didn't seem to get it.

            "Now, Miss. Weasley," the nurse said, coming to stand at the foot of her bed.  "I need you to hold onto Mr. Malfoy's hand for the spell to work."  The spell the woman was referring to was apparently an adaptation of an older one that allowed the transfer of minds.  Ginny had heard of it before, but never given much attention.  She figured that if she really wanted to try it again, she would just go whack her head against some more marble floors.  

            Taking in a deep breath, Ginny fumbled with her right hand until she found Malfoy's left and clasped it gently in hers.  His skin was colder than it should be, as though he had been standing outside in snowy weather for too long.  The butterflies decided they would attempt to make their presence known again, and Ginny nearly screamed at them aloud.  She managed to contain herself though.

            "Ok," the nurse said, drawing Ginny's attention to her.  "Let's get this over with, shall we?"  She raised her wand, and seemed to frown at her.  Ginny took in another deep breath and closed her eyes.  She didn't really want to see it come.  "Transitus Conscientiaae," rang through the room.

            Ginny felt a wave of water wash over her and she gasped, her eyes flying open to see nothing but blackness.  A moment later she felt herself submerged completely in the water, unable to breathe.  She gasped again, but found nothing to take in.  Her body began to spin wildly, and she realized she was in some sort of whorl pool.  Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to scream, but nothing came out.

            Ginny hit the ground after what seemed like hours, but it was really only a few seconds.  She lay there, gasping like a fish, not quite sure why she felt so wet.  After a few seconds of recovery time, she slowly opened her eyes and knew exactly why she felt wet: it was raining.  

            Sitting up, she looked around.  She appeared to be in the field of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  She frowned at the building then frowned at the rain.  Why would Malfoy's mind center around that school?  Hadn't he graduated seven years ago?  And why was it raining just as hard as it had been that day?  

            Getting to her feet, Ginny stood for a moment, surveying the massive building.  It seemed the same as in the waking world.  Same dark tones, over bearing towers and turrets, yet had that magical feeling that seemed like home.  Letting out a sigh of resignation, she made her way towards the main doors in the hopes that she could find the bugger Malfoy, solve his petty problem and go on with her life.

            The trip didn't take too long, most likely because Ginny was encouraged to run to prevent herself from getting any wetter.  She stood before the massive doors, reached out for the handles and hesitated.

            "What have you got yourself into, Ginny?" she asked herself.  Having no real response that she wanted to hear, she did the only thing left to do: she pulled the doors open.

            It was completely black inside yet she walked in anyways.  There was a flash of light that caused Ginny to slam her eyes shut.  When she opened them again she was greeted with the sight of the Entrance Hall.  She walked slowly into the center if it, the only sound being her heels clicking on the marble and the dripping of her clothes.

            "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" someone shrieked from above her.  "I JUST CLEANED THAT FLOOR!!"  

            Ginny's head flew upwards and saw something she hoped she would never have to see again: Argus Filtch dressed in black leather pants, black shirt and an ankle length leather jacket.  Not to mention various belts and other such weapon carrying devices adorning his person and rather snazzy looking sunglasses.  He was carrying some sort of black metallic device.

            Ginny gulped.  Perhaps this was going to be harder than she thought...

~*~

A/N: So what do you think?  Should I even bother continuing with this?  Do I dare say it?  Smash or Trash??  I think I'm leaning towards the trash side.  But I wouldn't mind putting in another round of Celebrity Jeopardy, SNL style of course


	2. Did the Nazis Ever Recruit Ferrets?

Title: Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make

Author: Tiny Q

E-Mail: one_legged_lesbian_seagull@hotmail.com

A/N:  I just don't understand how this many of you could actually want me to continue this!  I told myself that if I got 7 reviews that I would keep going.  That was how many I had received on Fragments 1 when I first put it up.  What is wrong with all you people?!  Not that I'm not grateful!  I really am.  And becasue of it I added two pages onto this chapter.  I was going to end it rather cruelly, then I made it far too long and now it is as it is.  Hopefully you will find it entertaining.  It's a bit of a foundation chapter though not that- How about I just let you read??

Disclaimer:  I own nothing.  Not even the plot is really mine.  And the characters definitely aren't.  Harry Potter or any other I have ripped off from other sources.  Because that is what this story basically is: one big rip.  Bah!

**Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make******

**Chapter 2**

**Did the Nazis Ever Recruit Ferrets?**

~*~

            Ginny stared at this new and rather threatening version of the caretaker she had always not much cared for when she had attended this school.  She was beginning to feel rather nervous, getting the feeling that the object in his hands was a Muggle weapon.  One that could kill.  Yet on the other hand she was beginning to feel curious as to how such an object could get into Malfoy's head.  'Curiosity killed the cat,' she thought darkly.  She could figure the weapon out later, at the moment there were more important things to worry about.  Like running away.

            "Uh," she said in a rather daft fashion, backing up slowly, hoping that she wouldn't be noticed.  The clicking of her heels made this rather difficult though.  "I'm just helping you to clean it a bit more," she said lamely, mentally smacking herself in the head.  

            'Why not just shout that I love filth and that there should be more of it around?' she thought angrily, staring up at the black leather clad Filtch.  He was turning rather red in the face and it clashed rather badly, in some odd way, with his outfit.  It then occurred to Ginny that the Squib had owned a cat, a sneaky evil cat.  

            As if on queue, Ginny felt something rub up against her leg.  Taking in a sharp breath she looked down, only to hear herself let out a small scream.  The ugly evil cat was wearing black, shinny leather and Rayban sunglasses.  The cat tipped its head so Ginny could see the red eyes glaring at her.

            "Sorry," she mumbled, then turned and ran as fast as she possibly could with heels.  

            "Get her my sweet!" she heard the caretaker screech at his cat and Ginny turned her head just in time to see a shinny black streak pelt towards her.  

            "Gah!" she let out and ran faster, moving towards a hall that, if memory served her correctly, led up to the library.  She could hear claws clicking on the marble behind her and Ginny had this desperate feeling that claws would soon be lodging themselves into her back.  'Oooh, I am going to kill that stupid asshole when I find him,' she thought angrily, barreling into another hall to the left, leaving large marks on the floor with her shoes.  If Filtch didn't have a real reason to kill her before, he sure as hell did now.

            This hall was darker than the other, but still on she ran.  But something was different.  Something sounded odd.  Looking behind herself, Ginny let out a little gasp.  The cat was gone.  Slowing to a halt, Ginny looked around, searching for the cat.  But it seemed that her trip around the corner had thrown the evil creature off, leaving Ginny to be the only one in the hall.

            "Well, that was easy," she muttered to herself, smoothing out her skirt and straightening her blouse.  

            Once she felt properly groomed, Ginny looked around, trying to remember where she was.  She knew this wasn't going to be easy if she didn't know where she was.  She had gotten lost with Malfoy in the dungeons last time and he knew where they were.  And she wasn't too keen on getting lost in his mind.  She wanted to get back into her own head, thank you very much.

            Taking in a deep breath, she strode forward.  The best way to find the blonde in question seemed to be to walk around until she found clues as to where he was, or better yet, find him in person.  It was a rather stupid plan, but it seemed a touch better than standing around waiting for Filtch and that blasted cat to catch up with her and go all kung-fu on her.

            Seeing nothing better to do in the meantime however, Ginny found herself looking about this darker hall.  She realized it was because there were not as many torches in this hall as there had been in the main one.  But it made sense.  Why light up unused halls?  

            She also noticed that there seemed to be more detail in Malfoy's mind than there had been in her own.  When she had been in her mind, everything had seemed dull, and unreal.  Yet in here everything seemed much sharper, much closer to the waking world than her own.  For one, the halls had their original marble tiles that caused her shoes to kick as she walked over them.  And they were sharp and detailed, not just blurry and mundane.  It was not as if they had been expected to be there, but instead had been examined carefully and that they knew they were there for a purpose.  It wasn't like in her mind where the floor had simply been covered in red carpet for she had always imagined it that way.  

            The next thing that she noticed was that she could see the paintings on the walls much more clearly than she had been able to in her own mind.  They had been blurry in hers yet in Malfoy's they were detailed and had depth.  But yet they were off somehow.  All the colors seemed dark and depressing, despite their depth or cheery depiction.  Or at least what was supposedly a cheery depiction.  Ginny narrowed her eyes at one and got the distinct impression that fairies and water nymphs were not supposed to scowl at you like that.  She also was beginning to think that damsels in distress should not look so bitter and sinister.  They were not supposed to seem so dark and filled with angst.  They were going to be rescued after all.

            Ginny broke her eyes away from the bizarrely warped paintings.  It seemed that Malfoy had spent a lot of time examining the school and the things in it, yet it had all been tainted by his darkness.  By his dark and rather sinister personality.  But then, that was why he had been in Slytherin after all.  The dark and conniving personality that was his.  Ginny shook her head in disgust.

            Coming to a T in the hall, she chose to turn left, figuring if she turned that direction every time she would be able to get back to the Main Hall if she needed to.  Yet as she came to be in the mouth of the aforementioned hall she instantly regretted this decision.  She stopped short.

            "What is it with this guy and ferrets?" she asked herself in alarm, looking at the large army before her.  

            There were ferrets for as far as her eye could see down the narrow hall she had entered.  They were all wearing daft looking mettle helmets that just screamed Muggle and had odd red bands around their left arms.  There seemed to be some sort of symbol on them, but she couldn't quite make it out.  Not that she felt she wanted to see it anyway.  

            They didn't seem to notice her at first, then one turned slightly and gave off an alarmed "Squeak!" causing the rest to turn as one body and stare at her as well.  Ginny felt her heart skip a beat.  They were all staring at her, baring sharp little pointy teeth in twisted little grins.  Grins that Ginny did not like in the slightest.  'Shit,' she thought weakly.

            "SQUEAK!" a ferret at the front of the heard called, glancing over his shoulder to the rest of his pack.  An instant later they were running towards her, their little feet roaring loud enough that she could have sworn it was a heard of Hippogriffs charging towards her rather than ferrets.  

            Without a second glance, Ginny turned on her heel and began to run in the opposite direction.  Her feet began to cry out in protest at being forced to run in her stupid heels for the second time in the last five minuets.  She studiously ignored them, instead deciding to pay more attention to the ferrets raging behind her.  

            "Why?" she asked herself.  "Why does he have to make everything so difficult?"  

            "Squeak!" she heard a ferret call as it whizzed by her head.  Apparently the others had decided to catapult him towards her.  It landed with a pitiful thump in a flowerpot.  Ginny diverted to the other side of the hall so as to avoid it.  But it didn't do her much good as there were soon more of his fellow soldiers flying past her making odd little noises as they went.  She was just waiting for one of them to hit her and bring her down for the rest of them to stampede over her.  Or do whatever it was that ferret soldiers did to their quarry.

            She ran faster, leaning slightly to the right as she hit a bend in the hall.  Yet it seemed a bend wasn't good enough to shake the army off her tail as a corner had been to the cat.  As she faced what was in front of her, Ginny stopped dead in her tracks at what she saw.  She once again left marks on the floor but didn't even think about it this time around.  There were more pressing matters at hand.

            "Merlin," she uttered, staring wide eyed at the apparent second regiment of the Ferret Brigade.  They had come around from the other side, effectively boxing her in and coming to a halt to do so.  The first regiment came to a stop behind her, leaving her a twenty foot gap between each of the groups.  Ginny stared from on group to the other, not quite knowing what to do next.  They were all grinning again.  Grinning that terrible grin.

            _You've got to stop fighting him!_  Suddenly ran through her head.  Though as to why Malfoy's words would suddenly pull themselves from the recesses of her memory, she had no idea.  But then, staring at the multitude of ferrets she began to realize something: they were there to get rid of her. They weren't the quite memories that sat behind the doors, waiting to be observed.  These were thoughts with a purpose, with a reason.  A duty.  

            They began to move in for the kill.  Slowly.

            "What are you doing?" she suddenly screamed as loud as she could, staring all around her.  The ferrets seemed unaffected by her sudden outburst.  In fact, they seemed to grin wider.  "I'm here to help you, you idiot!" she continued to scream.  "If you let these stupid beasts get me, then you'll _never_ get out of here!!"

            Her insult towards the ferrets did not seem to be the best of ideas and she instantly regretted it.  One of the soldiers of the second regiment leapt at her.  She let out a small shriek and slammed her eyes shut throwing her arms to her head, waiting to be bitten, clawed and generally gnawed on.  

            Yet the attack never came.  Slowly opening her eyes, Ginny peaked through her arms, looking for the reason why the attack never happened.  It was quite evident really: all the ferrets had vanished.  Ginny blinked then slowly lowered her arms, still looking about for that one ferret just waiting to finish the job the others were too scared to deal with.  

            Yet she saw none.

            "Thank you," she found herself uttering, still looking around in disbelief.  

            Shaking slightly, Ginny once again straightened her outfit.  She was getting the feeling that she was being tested.  And if not tested then she was simply being played with.  And she didn't like it.  Not one little bit.  Taking a deep, shuttering breath she strode forward, keeping her head high and her eyes ever weary for signs of trouble.  

            Yet it was beginning to seem to her that there was only one obstacle per hall.  For as she walked the length of the exceedingly long one, she ran into no other problems.  No ferrets.  No caretakers.  And no creepy little cats.

            And then she came to another hall.  She stopped, feeling her heart begin to pound.  What would it be this time?  What would he make her face?  What horrid and twisted thing could he come up with?  What hand could he possibly deal her?

            Taking another deep breath, she held her head high and walked around the corner.  There was no real point in just standing there after all.  If she ever wanted out of here she would just have to take a chance.  She stopped.

            "Hullo, Ginny," a voice met her ears, coming from a person sitting cross-legged in the center of the hall.  A certain blonde person.  "I was wondering who they would send in here to get me out."  He turned and smirked at her.  "I had a feeling you wouldn't be able refuse."

            Ginny walked up to the man, frowning down on him.  He remained seated, watching her approach with an expressionless face.  Yet it seemed more sinister than usual for the shadows cast by the torches were playing darkly across his face, not allowing her to see it properly.

            "Wouldn't be able to refuse?" she sneered, suddenly getting the feeling that perhaps the ferret armies would have been a better time than the one she had just stumbled across.  "Well that's rich.  It was more like blackmail, really."

            "Well," the blonde replied, smirking up at her.  "We all know how much you need the money."

            "I only see the two of us," she sneered down on him, looking around pointedly as if to prove her point.  "And I know that I would not need the money, even if I was doing this for it."

            Something passed across the blonde man's face, yet Ginny didn't quite catch it.  Probably due to the poor lighting.  Yet it apparently seemed that his guards and walls to keep others from seeing what he was feeling had gotten higher.  'Pity,' she thought, feeling a touch of melancholy at the memory of his face when he laughed.  She shook her head.  'Get a grip, Ginny,' she thought angrily, glaring down at the man in question as though it was his fault.  Which, in a way, it was.

            "How long have I been unconscious?" he asked finally, sounding more civil than before.  But not by much according to Ginny's standards.  

            "A day or so from what I heard," she replied truthfully.  It struck her as odd, now that the subject had arisen that no one had told her how long the man _had been unconscious for.  She suspected that it was really rather irrelevant, but it still seemed as though she had been kept in the dark.  They had told her about everything else practically.  Well, perhaps not everything, she wasn't exactly trusted amongst the Order any more._

            "It's felt like longer than that," the blonde said slowly, tilting his head and frowning at the ground.  The movement cast even more shadows across his face making his already dark features seem even darker, more evil.  Yet despite the fact that she couldn't quite see him properly, she could sense that something was troubling him.  But she wasn't about to ask what was wrong.

            "Forgot to bring your expensive watch with you this time, Malfoy?" she hissed, smirking at him slightly.  

            "Actually," he drawled, fishing about in his expensive looking robes and pulling something on a chain out.  "It broke before I landed in here."  

            He held the gold object up by its chain, swinging slightly.  The firelight caught at the broken face of the pocket watch, proving to her that it truly was broken.  Ginny felt an odd pang for some reason.  She swore at it.

            "Aww, poor Draco," she cooed in bitter pity.  "Your daddy's watch is all broken.  How does that make you feel?"

            "Not as bad as it feels to have you in my head," he snarled up at her.  "Honestly, couldn't they find anyone else for the job?  I mean besides you and you're leaping at the opportunity to see what I am like in my head?"

            "Nope," she said sweetly, grinning down on him.  "They apparently don't seem to think that you have anyone else.  Which is really rather sad considering that I haven't seen you in the last five years." 

            "And you say this as if it were my fault," he snapped, rising to his feet.

            "Well who else's fault could it be?" she snarled, glaring at him, as he rose to his feet as gracefully as if he had been sitting on a thrown.  "Min-"  

            She cut off, his features coming into full view.  It was the first time she had seen him in five years, with the exception of the St. Mungos, but that didn't count.  She felt her eyes grow wide slightly.  He looked so different.  So unlike the immature creature she had once cared for.  He was practically the same height, but he had thinned out.  He was leaner, yet had muscle to him.  And his face was sharper, more defined, making him look even more aristocratic than he ever had before.  He looked so much like his father, it startled her.  Even his eyes were similar.  They were grayer than she remembered.  More guarded

            "Weasley, I know that I'm dead sexy," his voice sliced through her mind with a drawl.  "But I am finding that this hall is getting rather cumbersome.  Can we leave it any time soon?"

            "Wha?" she asked daftly, then shook her head.  'So what if he's hot?' she yelled at herself in her head, knowing that "hot" was a touch of an understatement at the moment.  It was more like an insane handsomeness that made her want to launch herself at him and never let go.  'He's still the same bastard you knew before!'

            "Leave?" he offered, making little walking movements with two fingers.  "Use your legs and move somewhere, rather than stand there and stare at me."  Ginny narrowed her eyes, feeling her face heat up slightly.  "I mean I'm flattered, really, but I have better people to stare at me these days."

            "Oh, really?" Ginny sneered nastily, suddenly wanting to make him forget about her laps of stupidity.  Or just to make herself forget by replacing the memory with something better.  Or rather more vicious.  "Then why am I here instead of them?  Or is it simply some fan club in your head?  Because if that's the case I can't wait to meet them."  She looked around as if searching for the banner waving group of girls, knickers a flying.

            "You're such a loser, Weasley," Malfoy spat at her, sneering in a terrible way that made Ginny want to turn away from it.  She held her ground though, glaring back.  "Can we just go?  I want to spend as little time in here as possible."

            "Trust me," Ginny hissed, crossing her arms.  "The feeling is mutual."

            With a snort, Malfoy turned away from her and walked down the hall, opposite of the direction she had come.  With a hiss of breath, Ginny followed after him, glaring angrily at the blonde's back.  'Maybe I should have stuck with Filtch,' she thought bitterly, coming up to walk beside Malfoy.  'At least he wouldn't have insulted me.'

            They walked in icy silence, ever sending glares at one another.  Ginny felt sure that if their eyes had been flamethrowers they would both be crispier than chicken from that Muggle food chain.  Not that she ever ate there very often.  She had once found a chicken brain fried into the batter coating a drumstick.  It had forever turned her away from Muggle fried foods.  Not that this is very relevant to the story, but I just thought I would mention it.  Moving on.

            When they had reached the end of the hall, Malfoy didn't even check to see if she was ready to round it with him, he just kept right on walking.  Ginny resisted the urge to snarl.  What if he had gone around and when she had gone herself he hadn't been there?  Then what?  She would have to wander around his head for who knows how long until she found him again?  She didn't think so.  But just as she was opening her mouth to tell him just that, something assaulted her ears.  Something loud.

            "I am ahead, I am advanced.  I am the first mammal to make plans, yeah!"  Someone screamed from a stage that was apparently right at the end of the rather short hall they had entered.  "I crawled the earth, but now I'm hot.  I tried to chill yah, but you turned to fire."  Ginny looked at the person who was gleefully bouncing around, bashing guitars and other such instruments and generally being destructive, up on the stage.  "It's evolution, baby!"  Then she gasped.

            "Malfoy," she said slowly, staring wide-eyed at the bone white man on the stage.  She felt her arms drop from their crossed position to hang limply at her sides.  "Why is Voldemort singing Pearl Jam in your head?"  
~*~

A/N:  Ah, singing.  How I love to make characters sing.  I should do an entire musical some time.  No contest, no nothing.  Just singing... Oh, the possibilities.  But it won't happen, don't worry.  Anyhoo, next chapter is when the shit will really hit the fan.  There's so much wonderful stuff I have planed.  He He He.  I'd give you some tidbits, but I think I will just make you wait... Oh, alright.  There will be chipmunks, squirrels, dragons and Gollum!

Many thanks to: **o0true0o, tulzdavampslayer**(~tiny voice~ I updated...)**, oliverwoodsgirl**(I already have half of it written up :D)**, Ella8**(Uh, well that just sort of defeats the point of trashing it... JK)**, calie**(Trust me dear, by the end he will be black and blue and his knees will bleed ~evil laughter~)**, Shlay, bobby**(Hmm, perhaps that mullet will make a come back...)**, Meadow A(I hope you do too)****, fryechild(...wiggle dance...?)**, mngolianporkchop**(Compelling and ingenious? ~stares is awe~ Thanks!)**, Azalai**(...that was so...odd...)**, CherrymintChocolates**(All in good time)**, Edainme, Monika1, redcrow, fire-sprite16**(Why must you all threaten me?! Gah)****, Queen of Night, sneef22(Now why would I want a happy ending? JK)****, xi-swt-tearz-ix, Amaya, shelly2, LadyBex(Because there are too many ideas in my head. I've got 2 more on the way too. Gah. But I have finished Trees, all I have to do is get off my lazy bum and edit)and **Laratiot**(Oh, there's a reason. You'll find out about it soon. It's all- well, you'll have to wait and see :D)****. **


	3. A Dragon's Heart

Title: Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make

Author: Tiny Q

E-Mail: one_legged_lesbian_seagull@hotmail.com

A/N: Well here's the next chapter.  I was a little stuck, but I pulled through.  All cheer!  Ha.  But yes.  I have been trying to finish 11 different stories that I really want to get out soon, but it's just not happening.  Feel lucky that you get to read this one!  Stupid school.  No time and it kills inspiration.  Never go to school at the cost of your own money!  Bah.  Uh, how about I just let you read the story eh?

Disclaimer:  I own nothing.  Anything that sounds like it's from something other than Harry Potter most likely is...

**Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make******

**Chapter 3**

**A Dragon's Heart**

~*~

            Malfoy continued to stare at the stage before them on which the bone white man was rampaging about.  Ginny was beginning to get the feeling that perhaps he was just as disturbed by it as she was.  But then, who wouldn't be with Voldemort singing such lyrics as: "I'm ahead, the man.  I'm the first mammal to wear pants, yeah."  Or other more disturbing ones such as: "I'm at peace with my lust.  I can kill 'cause in God I trust, yeah.  It's evolution, baby!"

            "I don't know," Malfoy finally said slowly, his voice absent from any sort of drawl.  It was just a plain, disturbed and slow voice.  

            Ginny continued to stare at the spectacle before her, still not quite getting how it could work.  Yet her thoughts were disrupted when she felt someone pull on her arm.  Looking down she saw that Malfoy had a vice grip on her left.  A moment later he was dragging her towards a hall to their right.  Ginny surprised herself by not resisting, rather glad to have a chance to get away from Voldemort butchering that rather catchy song.

            As they rounded the corner the music suddenly stopped, like a heavy door had closed behind them.  Looking about though, Ginny felt her heart sink further than it had yet to sink that day.  The hall was filled with doors.  They were the regular types of doors at Hogwarts, meaning they were conniving and sneaky.  Ginny suddenly had a great dislike of these doors.  Not that she much cared for them before.

            "Now what?" she asked the man beside her, pulling her arm free of his grasp.  

            He looked down on her.  "We choose one I suppose," he said in that same voice as before, but there was a hint of his usual arrogance in it this time.  

            "Which one?" she questioned, feeling rather daft afterwards.  Well, it was a valid question.

            Without a response, Malfoy strode forward to a door to their left and opened it.  

            "Ladies first," he sneered with a sweeping gesture.  Ginny felt a pang of hurt at his insult of the past.  She hadn't minded it when he had said it then.  But now it just sounded all wrong.  'Well, at least his sneer's back,' she thought bitterly.  

            Glowering back at him, Ginny walked past and went through the threshold of the door.  With another blinding flash of light, which Ginny shut her eyes to, she found herself standing behind a podium.  

            She knew this place.  All too well.  But unlike in her own head, there was an audience, who all seemed off somehow.  There was also a back stage and other such things that one would find on a real television set.  'I never should have introduced him to TV,' Ginny thought grimly, looking to her left to see Malfoy, frowning about at his surroundings.  

            "Great," she heard him mutter, and couldn't help but grin.

            Ginny turned to her right, expecting to see the infamous Sean Connery who really wasn't Sean Connery, but got a bit of a nasty surprise.  Instead of a man, there was a large, coppery brown dragon crouch behind the podium, looking about with a smirk on his face.  Ginny never knew dragons could smirk.  'Apparently they can.'

            Leaning forward, she read the name on the creature's podium.  Sean Connery had been neatly crossed out and the name "Draco" had been written even neater below it.

            "That Dragon has the same name as you," she whispered over to the blonde beside her.  He looked at her as if she was stupid.  But he never the chance to tell her off.

            "And welcome back to _Celebrity Jeopardy," a downtrodden man said in an equally downtrodden voice from behind the main podium where he had apparently just walked up to.  "I still can't understand why you people keep coming back.  Is it some sort of chemical imbalance I wonder?  No, that must be what is wrong with me.  You all probably just enjoy my torments in a cruel and sadistic way."_

            There was a cough from somewhere off stage.  The downtrodden man suddenly looked nervous.

            "Right," he said, clearing his throat.  "Let's meet our contestants, shall we?"  He turned towards the dragon and visibly jerked.  "Who the hell are you and what have you done with Sean Connery?"  He paused.  "Please tell me you ate him."

            "I bet you also wish I could tell you how to get a hand on your mother like I did last night," the dragon named Draco said lazily, flicking his long tail.  Ginny began to get the feeling that there was a connection between the dragon and the man in question.  They sounded a lot alike.  And it seemed the game show host was getting this exact same inkling.

            "Oh dear," he said miserably.  "Why must you people do this to me?" he suddenly shrieked at the people who were obviously, or hopefully, behind the stage.  Now that Ginny looked, she realized the man was a touch more frazzled than he should have been.  'Malofy's mind in really fucked up,' she thought darkly, frowning at the blonde.

            He seemed to sense her staring at him, and frowned back at her.  Ginny looked away.

            "We don't need to meet the contestants then, we all know who they are," the game show host said in a bit of a rush, yet it was still drawn out in that game show voice.  "And the-"

            "Oh come on Trebeck," the dragon drawled.  "We're the main stars of the show after all.  You have to introduce us."

            Trebeck looked darkly at the dragon then heaved a sigh.  "Fine," he said rather pathetically, then looked down at his que-cards.  "Our first contestant is, or rather was, Sean Connery, but now appears to be a dragon named Draco."  He paused.  "Cute."  He then turned his eyes to Ginny.  "Next we have the ever lovely Ginny Weasley."  Ginny gave a little wave.  "And finally we have Draco _Malfoy, our third contestant."_

            Trebeck then turned to the Dragon.  "Happy?"

            "Immensely."

            With another sigh the man turned to the board across from the podiums.  "Let's look at the categories, shall we?"  He glanced over them then gave another sigh.  "Potent Potables, Who are you?, Flash Mobs, Finding Nemo (Note: these questions are all based on that movie about the cute little fish), Savvy, Where is Daddy?, and finally Disneyland."

            "Wonderful topics!" the Dragon trilled, clapping his clawed hands.

            It was at this time that Ginny turned to Malfoy and looked desperately at him.  "Can we leave now?" she whispered and when he nodded in agreement, she wasted no time in moving back towards the door from which they came, Malfoy close of her heels.

            "And we'll start the game off with- What?!  You're leaving _again?!" Trebeck practically shrieked.  "You can't do this to me!  How am I supposed to run a game with a _dragon_?!"_

            There was a whoosh of flames and Ginny heard a little scream.  Whipping around she saw that the dragon named Draco had shot a burst of flames at the game show host, making him look a little beyond crispy.  

            "Damn you," he said weakly before falling to the ground.

            Ginny never got the chance to find out what happened as Malfoy had shoved the door open and pulled her through.  They both slammed the it shut and leaned heavily against it.

            "Malfoy," Ginny hissed, taking in a few deep breaths to calm herself, not quite sure why she was suddenly so worked up.  "What the hell is wrong with you?"

            "I honestly don't know," he responded with a slight drawl causing Ginny to look at him.  He didn't have his usual sneer in place, but rather had a pensive look instead.  He turned and looked at her then, a smirk washing the look away.  "Let's just try and get out of here."

~*~

            Three hours later, Ginny felt her head was about to explode.  She had never seen so many disturbing things in such a series.  There had been sever beatings of Hippogriffs with rubber chickens (which she had a feeling had to do with his battle with both Buckbeak and Riddle).  And there had also been Severus Snape singing on the top of his lungs that he was a man of constant sorrow.  And of course, the incident she was sure would not leave her mind too quickly, Professor Lupin cowering from several moons that seemed to be ramming into the poor man.  Ginny felt justified in the explosiveness in her mind after all that.  And her feet were killing her.  This was the last time she ever wore high heels when going into someone's mind.

            Ginny stopped and leaned against the wall, just as Malfoy opened yet another door and poked his head into it.  She never did find out what he saw, for she never looked and he closed the door far too fast.  Besides, she was more concerned over peeling her stupid shoes off her aching feet.

            "Ah, Weasley," Malfoy suddenly said in disgust.  She turned and looked at him to see a rather un-Malfoyishly humorous expression in place.  "Don't stink up my mind with your smelly feet!"

            "I think it reeks bad enough as it is.  My feet couldn't hurt," Ginny sneered, tossing the high heels to the ground where they made a satisfying "clunk".  "And besides, my feet don't stink."

            "Whatever you say," he drawled, crinkling his face at her shoes, but seeming to think twice about commenting.  "Let's just try and get to the Great Hall and see if there's anything there.  This hall is starting to annoy me."  He started towards a bend a few feet away.

            "But that's where Filch is!" Ginny found herself crying before she even realized she was saying it.  

            Malfoy turned to her in distaste.  "Are you telling me that you are scared of that pathetic Squib?" he snarled at her.

            "He has a cat," she offered, glaring down at her neglected shoes.  It was as if they were laughing at her.

            "Ooh, scary stuff there," he drawled, and continued to his destination.  Ginny mentally smacked herself and hurried gingerly after him.  Her feet were really starting to hurt, even without the shoes.  

            She caught up with him by the time he got to the bend and when they cleared it they came into the open of the Entrance Hall.  Ginny looked warily around for Filtch and was just beginning to think that perhaps she was safe, when she spotted something worse tearing down the main staircase.  She reached out blindly for Malfoy, finally catching at his sleeve.

            "It burns!" her brother, Ron, shrieked, tearing down the stairs and flailing his arms about in an insane flurry.  "It burns us!"  Now, you may be wondering why he was screaming such a phrase that is truly only worthy of Gollum.  Well, his hair was on fire.  

            Ginny's mouth fell open as her brother rushed across the hall and flung his head into a fountain that hadn't been there when she had first arrived.  He kept his head in there and Ginny could only stare.

            "That was cruel Malfoy," she said after a moment.  Her brother was now sitting quietly on the edge of the fountain, his head bald.  "I now you hate my brother, but that was just cruel."  She glanced to her own red hair that had darkened with age.  Had he ever imagined that happen to her?

            "When I first dreamt that there hadn't been a fountain," he offered, pulling her hand off his sleeve.  "Now come on."  He dropped her hand and she stared after him, before she followed him to the Hall doors.

            When they reached them they both stopped, listening.  There was an odd chattering noise coming from beyond them.  A chattering that Ginny didn't entirely like the sound of.  By the way Malfoy was standing, it seemed that he didn't either.

            "You haven't ever had dreams about scorpions, have you Malfoy?" Ginny found herself asking, looking wearily at the door.

            "Not that I can remember," he said slowly, looking at the door himself.

            With a bit of a breath, Ginny reached forward and pushed the door open.  'Might as well get it over with,' she thought grimly.  It seemed to be her motto lately.  When the door had swung open she felt her heart stop.

            "Welcome," a voice called to them, and they walked in slowly, seeming compelled to move.  Ginny looked towards the source of the voice and let out another gasp.  There before them was Hermione.

            But it wasn't just the normal know-it-all Hermione.  No, it was far worse.  This Hermione had let her bushy hair go wild, so it stood out almost like a frizzy afro.  She was also dressed in a dress that seemed to be made of rows of squirrel pelts sewn together, yet the tails had been left to hang like tassels.  Yet perhaps the most startling feature about this Hermione was that she was seated on a grand throne where the Head Table should have sat.  And over the top of this throne there was a sign that read: _Tu__ es un ecureuil dans mes cheveux._

            "You are a squirrel in my hair?" she asked Malfoy, using her poor French.  "Why the hell would you have that in your head?"

            "Because I could never remember how to say fly or wall," he replied, looking about.  It was then that Ginny realized there were several thousand chipmunks scattered about the halls, resting on the pushed back tables and the stools, hiding in the shadows.  Ginny felt her eyes grow wide.  They had been the source of the odd chattering noise.

            "I, the Queen of the Chipmunks, welcome you to my strong hold," Hermione said in a regal voice, drawing both of their attentions to her rather than to her apparent minions.  Who by the way, began to chatter loudly as though to pay praise to her.  Hermione raised a hand slowly and the chattering stopped.  "I am pleased that you have finally arrived."

            "And why is that?" Draco asked, looking up at the bushy Hermione.  Ginny frowned at her.  There seemed to be something off about her, just like everything else in Malfoy's mind.  But she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

            "Because he has been waiting for you," she replied simply, a malicious grin spreading across her face.  The chipmunks around them seemed to grin as well, yet remained silent.  

            Then it struck Ginny what was so off about everything in this man's head: It all had undertones of evil.

            "And he has been very anxious to see you again, Draco," Hermione said lazily, lounging back in her fur strewn throne.

            "And who is this he?" he spat at her.  Ginny could sense his whole body tensing up in anticipation.

            "Why, your father of course."

~*~

A/N:  Well, that's that.  Don't know when the next chapter will come out 'cause I don't really know what will happen next.  I have a few little chunks but I need more to pull them together.  Any suggestions?  JK.  Anyhoo, have a good Halloween, even though it's a little early for Halloween...

Many thanks to: **Amaya****, Cay(Hmm, not sure yet. He could be...)**, Azalai**(Not much scares me anymore. Well, except the chick from The Ring. She just won't leave my head alone! ~runs away screaming for her glowing stick~)****, mngolianporkchop(Ya, a little scary. Almost worth drawing, but no. Draco IS a sexy bitch. :D)**, Shyanne, redcrow, tulzdavampslayer**(Now I really want to do one... too much to write...)**, fire-sprite16**(Well if he was all nice it just wouldn't be fun)**, Antonida**(Oh, there's a reason. And it will rear its ugly head soon enough...)**, ******Logan****'s Lover(~blushes~ Thanks. But I wish she would finish that story. I say we should pester her...)**, yourgrandmother**(No musicals? You break my heart)****, bobby and ****VirtualFaerie(And she's back from the dead. ~threatening music~)****. **


	4. Running Amuck

Title: Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make

Author: Tiny Q

E-Mail: one_legged_lesbian_seagull@hotmail.com

A/N: Well, I finally managed to figure out where this was going to go.  Yay for holidays.  I sort of knew where I wanted it to go before but it sounded too much like the first Fragments for me to actually work it out.  But now I have got it.  I hope.  And hopefully it will seem at least a little different.  Anyhoo, there is my piss-poor attempt at an explanation as to why it took so long, so, please don't hurt me!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.  Not a thing.  Starving student here!

**Fragments 2: The Difference a Malfoy Mind Can Make******

**Chapter 4**

**Running Amuck**

~*~

            Ginny stood there, feeling as though something was terribly, terribly wrong.  But then, in retrospect, something _was terribly wrong.  She as stuck in Draco Malfoy's mind, the man she hadn't seen for five years, and she was expected by the Order, of all people, to wake him up.  Not to mention that she was standing before her good friend Hermione, who was no longer the Hermione she knew and loved. This Hermione was now a minion for Lucius Malfoy, the aforementioned man's father, the person who ultimately began this twisted habit of going into another's mind, whether they were conscious that the event had taken place or not.  And now he was apparently part of this game as well.  Ginny looked down at her shoeless feet.  She was beginning to get a very bad feeling about all this._

            Realizing that she was being overly self-centered, she turned to the blonde beside her, trying to see his reaction.  What she saw startled her.  The usual apathetic mask that he always wore was nowhere to be seen.  What she could see, however, was a look of worry and uncertainty on the man's face.  It was then that Ginny realized that something was very wrong.  Something was very, terribly wrong.  When Malfoy showed expressions like that there was something definitely wrong with the world.  

            "Ah, I see you weren't exactly expecting him then?" Hermione asked with a bored tone, looking at her fingernails.  "Pity."  She dropped her hand and crossed her legs, leaning further back in her grand chair.  "But I will assure you Draco, that it will be a wonderful family reunion."  She grinned wickedly at him and Ginny couldn't help but shudder.  

            "I don't believe you," Malfoy said quietly from beside her, his eyes never leaving the bushy haired woman's.  "There is no way he can be here as well."

            "Oh?" the Queen of the Chipmunks asked with mock surprise.  "Are you sure about that?"  She leaned forward.  "Are you absolutely sure that there is no way?"

            "There isn't," he replied sternly, shaking his head.  

            Ginny could tell by the way his body was so stiff that he didn't completely believe what he was saying.  He was doubting himself.  Ginny had known him long enough, before their distancing, to know the sings to tell what he was thinking.  She also knew that he was close to losing control.

            Hermione stared at him, completely ignoring Ginny.  It was as if she was trying to figure something out by reading it through Malfoy's skull.  Then she spoke: "Well then, I suppose I will just have to prove to you that it is true."  She broke eye contact and turned to a set of ornately dressed chipmunks that were resting on a small table beside her.  "Kindly collect these two and bring them to the dungeons," she told them, and with a nod, the chipmunks began their chatter, apparently telling the others what to do to carry out their queen's orders.

            Ginny looked around, feeling her stomach drop.  All of the chipmunks were now chattering to each other, more than half of them standing up and moving forward slightly.  Ginny turned her attention to the queen to see that she was once again relaxing, watching her with a slight smirk that sent chills down her spine.  Like the real Hermione could ever smirk like that.  Right?

            She felt a hand clamp onto her right arm and turned to see Malfoy looking at her with slight panic in his eyes, his impassive mask half in place.  It was then that Ginny realized that the chipmunks were moving towards them.  Evil little grins on their fuzzy faces.  She got a terrible feeling of deja vu.  

            "Don't just stand there Weasley," Malfoy hissed, backing up a few steps and forcing her along with him.  "Run!"

            With this, he turned around, forcing her to turn as well, and bolted towards the door that was a mere ten feet away.  It was at this moment that the chipmunks, whose chatter had now begun to sound like a Muggle airplane, leapt into motion, charging towards them.  Their duty?  To bring the two of them down to the dungeons where they would apparently be meeting the man Ginny never wanted to see again.  

            "Run faster!" Malfoy bellowed above the chattering, pulling on her arm as he forced her towards the doors, dragging her out of the way of a small herd that had moved into the path they were running on.

            "No really?" Ginny demanded, as they ran into the double doors.  Throwing herself against them, Malfoy right beside her, they forced them open and hurried out into the Entrance Hall.  She began to slow down, figuring that they were just like everything else they had encountered and the chattering minions could not leave the room.  Malfoy seemed to be thinking the same thing as he had let go of her hand.  A glance behind told her how very wrong she was.

            "Malfoy!" she heard herself shriek as the chipmunks poured out of the door and pooled around it, seeming to wait until their mass was assembled before they began their second attack.

            Without a word, Malfoy had her hand in his and he was running down the hall, her in tow.  Ginny did not need much encouragement to follow him as swiftly as she could.  The sound of thousands of little clawed feet seemed to be all the encouragement she needed really.  Then she remembered that the stupid things could jump.  Unlike the ferret army, these minions would not need to be launched by their peers.  They could launch themselves.

            Malfoy tore down on of the main halls then turned a sharp left, causing Ginny to spin out, her arm feeling like it was about to be ripped off as the blonde before her continued to run, not letting go of her hand.  Cursing, she turned her head about just in time to see the horde of minions rounding the very same corner, seeming to be like a wave as they skittered across the tile, their claws making an unpleasant screeching noise.  

            "We have to get through a door," Malfoy panted back at her, and Ginny found herself casting her eyes about frantically for one.  

            But there were none in the hall.  

            Another corner and all they found was a flight of stairs.  Malfoy kept right on running towards it, not even pausing to think of where it might lead them.  Not that it really mattered.

            "It figures!" Ginny hissed, leaping up the stairs two at a time, silently glad that she was no longer wearing her wretched heels.  "There are doors all over the place when we don't want them and when we just need one, just one, there are no fucking doors to be found!"

            "Shut up and run!" Malfoy sneered back at her, looking over his shoulder to the wave of minions who were now oozing onto the second floor.  He pulled her hand a bit harder, making Ginny think that she as going to lose her arm before this was all over.

            "There!" she cried, her eyes suddenly falling on a solitary door, at the end of the hall.  A hall that was a dead end it seemed.  

            Malfoy seemed to have seen it before she had, for he put on an extra burst of speed, forcing her to take that lung aching speed as well.  They slammed to a stop in front of the door and Malfoy pulled on the handle.  Ginny could just feel her heart sinking.  It was probably locked.  It was probably locked and then they would be washed away in the sea of minions.  But the door opened.

            "In!" Malfoy shouted, grabbing her by the shoulder and roughly shoving her through the door.  Ginny stumbled into the darkness, her arms flailing for something to grab hold of.  Finding none, she crashed to the ground.  

            Malfoy slammed the door shut, switching the lock.  A second later the sound of thousands of furry bodies colliding with the think wood resonated through the darkness.  She heard something slam and Ginny started, but relaxed slightly when she realized it had been a slab of wood that helped bar the door.  She could still hear the minions and Malfoy's ragged breaths amongst her own.

            "Will it hold?" she whispered, feeling that if she said the words too loud the door would get ideas.  

            "I don't know," the blonde replied uncertainly.  She peered through the darkness, but could see nothing.  She slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her legs.  "Where are you?" Malfoy asked after a moment.  She could hear him shuffling across the floor.  She wondered what would happen if she didn't say anything.  What would happen if she sat there quietly for the rest of eternity in an apparently empty room in Malfoy's head.  She could get her revenge on the Order then.  And Malfoy.  

            A hand fumbling over the top of her head crushed these thoughts.  Little jolts of remembrance flashed through her body from where his fingertips were now lightly brushing over her hair and to her shoulders, were they finally slid down to the tops of her arms.  With what seemed to be little effort, Malfoy had pulled her into a standing position, his hands still on her arms.  After a moment she realized that he was moving his thumbs in the way he used to.

            "Malfoy," she began, a part of her wanting him to stop what he was doing.  Another part, a part that she thought had died about five years ago, wanted him to never let go of her again.  She silently hissed at this part of herself.  

            "Ginny-," he interrupted, but she never did find out what he was going to say as there was a horrible sound of cracking wood behind her.  She felt the man before her stiffen and a second later she felt herself being pulled towards his well toned chest.  She knew it was just a subconscious reaction.  Or was it?  It didn't really matter though, the chipmunks were breaking through.

            "How can they be doing this?" she heard herself ask in alarm, not even realizing she had voiced her silent question.  She also did not completely realize that she was now clutching onto Malfoy's robes.  "Why didn't they just disappeared after we closed the door like all the other fragments?"

            "I don't know," he replied, his grip on her arms tightening briefly.  "But I don't like it..."

            "I would be worried if you did," Ginny snorted, glancing through the darkness towards the direction of the door.  The sound of splintering wood sounded again.  "We should get moving."

            "To where?" the man holding her asked, and she looked blindly around the room.  She couldn't see anything, but if her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, she could have sworn that the darkness in front of her, facing away from the door, wasn't quite so dark.  

            Ginny pulled away from him, but he grabbed onto her hand.  Ginny had to use all her self control not to gasp at the contact.  She wasn't quite sure why though.  'Pull yourself together, girl,' she hissed at herself, then took a tentative step forward, away from the chipmunks and their work on the door.

            After a few bleak moments, in which Ginny thought that she was going to run into something terrible, regardless of whose hand she was holding, they stumbled across a small, narrow staircase that led down.  They stopped at the mouth.  Ginny could feel a cool breeze rustling her hair.

            "Should we go down?" she asked quietly, looking through the darkness to where she thought Malfoy would be.  She couldn't see him.

            Behind them the loudest splintering yet sounded, and a crack of light showed through.  They were almost through.  "We don't have a choice," Malfoy hissed, and with that he started down the narrow little steps, taking her with him.  The stones were uncomfortably cold on her bare feet but she forced herself not to think about it.  

            His pace was quick and Ginny had this terrible feeling that one of them was going to lose their balance and take the other down with them.  She wondered what would happen if they got knocked unconscious in his mind.  Would it be like last time and she would pull him into her own head?  Then what?  They would have to escape her mind only to wake up and find themselves in his once more.  She shuddered at the thought.

            "Cold?" Malfoy asked her over his shoulder, still pulling her down the stairs.  

            "No," she lied.  She was a little on the chilly side, now that he mentioned it, but she wasn't about to admit it to him.  Even if he wasn't acting like a total ass at the moment.  It wouldn't last.  She knew it wouldn't.  Or at least, that was what she was telling herself.  She heard him snort and she glared at him.  She would have said something snide in return but it was them that the stairs fell away and they stumbled onto flat ground.  Relief filled Ginny but it was short lived as the sound of a door crashing to the ground above them echoed down the stairwell.

            "They got through!" Ginny gasped, her heart leaping.  

            "Come on," Malfoy said, pulling her hand and forcing her forward once more.  The ground was flat, but it was still pitch black in the new hall.  She could hear him patting the stone wall.  She could also hear thousands of tiny feet scratching across the stone, down towards them.  She felt panic rising in her again.  What was wrong with these things?  Couldn't they just leave them alone?  She was suddenly very thankful that the stupid ferrets hadn't been as persistent.  

            She felt Draco pull her to the right and a moment later, Ginny was blinking furiously, here eyes not accustomed to the bright light that had suddenly appeared in this new hall.  A hall filled with archaic looking old doors.  They were in the dungeons.  Her eyes had barley adjusted to the new surroundings when Malfoy was once again pulling her along at his quick pace.

            "Which door?" he asked, looking around in what seemed to be frantic panic.  Now Ginny was really starting to panic herself.  If Malfoy was worried then there was definitely good reason to panic too.  There was a terrible scrapping of claws, and Ginny turned to see the wave of chipmunks making their way around the corner.  Ginny felt her eyes grow wide.  

            "This one!" she cried, pulling him with her to the nearest door, and pulling on it.  But it didn't open.  "Or not," she muttered, then desperately moved to the next one.  It didn't open either.  Her panic rose even further.  "There's something wrong!"

            Malfoy said nothing to this, and she chanced a look at him. His hair was in his face again, blocking out his eyes, but she could tell by the set of his lips that he was worried.  This made her even more afraid than the chipmunks made her.  He spun to the other side of the hall and dragged her towards another door.  He jerked on it and somehow, miraculously, it opened for him.  And it was a good thing too, for the chipmunks, who had been gathering their forces, chose that moment to charge.

            "In!" he cried, again flinging her through the threshold and, following her closely, slammed the door behind them.  The furry demons were on the door a moment later, already beginning their frantic clawing.  

            "Ow," Ginny moaned from her unladylike position on the floor.  "I am getting really sick of this."

            "Well I have never seen this before," an unfamiliar voice muttered from the opposite end of the room she had been ungracefully flung into.  She scrambled to her feet, staring around the room and taking in the clocks of all sorts that were all over the room.  There were even a few that were literally dripping off their shelf, reminding her of a Muggle painting she had seen once.  Malfoy stood beside her silently, panting slightly as she was.  "No one has visited me in ages."

            Her eyes finally fell on the individual speaking and let out a gasp.  "Viktor Krum?" she asked in surprise, staring at Hermione, the real one's, former boyfriend.  Then she felt her eyes narrow.  "Why are you dressed like that?"

            Well, it was a valid question.  The stooped man was wearing a worn work apron, equipped with an assortment of tools hooked into a large, leather belt.  The funniest object was the odd glasses he was wearing, sending his hair in all directions.  They stuck out of his head by about ten inches.  He turned his head up to stare at her, lifting the odd glasses off his face and placing them on the top of his head.  Now they looked like ears.

            "Because I am a horologist," he said simply, looking from both her and Malfoy.  "I thought that would be quite obvious."  He gestured towards all the clocks.

            Ginny turned and glared at Malfoy.  "Do I even want to _know why this is in your head?" she sneered, turning her glare into a look of distaste.  Her worries about the rodents trying to break down the door behind her were momentarily forgotten.  _

            "He studies _clocks, Weasley," Malfoy sneered back, the first nasty thing he had said to her in a while.  "A horologist studies _clocks_."_

            "Sure it does," she sneered back, yet there wasn't quite so much confidence in her voice as before.  It didn't sound like he would study clocks, but then, all the clocks around her really did say something about his studies.  There weren't bras and knickers lying about, not to mention whore boots.  

            Malfoy sighed then took a step forward.  "There are about three thousand chipmunks about to break down that door."  He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.  "Is there another way out of here?"  Ginny found herself nodding, taking a step forward as well, finding that she was reluctant to be without the blonde by her side.  She silently screamed at herself for her lack of dignity.  

            "There is," the apparently former quidditch player replied, smiling at them.  "But first, I think you have something that I can fix."

            Malfoy stared at the man blankly and Ginny nudged him slightly, realizing what he was referring to.  "Your watch," she hissed, not quite sure why she would remember and he wouldn't.

            Malfoy turned and glared at her, but as he did this he reached into his robes and pulled his pocket watch out once more.  The broken face caught in the light as though proving its condition to the world.  Or rather, the room.  With a moment's hesitation, Draco thrust the golden object to the man behind the desk and glared.

            "Ah," Krum cooed, holding the object with the utmost care and gentleness.  "A beautiful specimen..."  Then without another word he placed it on the table, pulling his goggles down once more, and began to work on it.

            He was tapping it with a small hammer when the door behind him began to splinter as the other had.  Ginny let out a little yelp of surprise when it happened, earning her yet another glare from the man beside her.  The horologist didn't even flinch however.  

            There was a soft click as Krum pushed the new glass face into place, and Ginny glanced at it.  A second later a blinding flash of light emitted itself from the golden watch and she slammed her eyes shut.  When she opened them again she could have sworn that things were different somehow.  A glance at Malfoy told her that he was thinking this as well.  She looked around the room.  Everything was the same, yet there was also something entirely different. 

            Then it clicked: everything around her seemed bright, more real almost.  It was as if the pocket watch's repair had made Malfoy wake up slightly.  That it had brought a touch more reality to this surreal world.  She frowned and was about to comment but the sound of wood cracking stopped her.  

            "Here," Krum said, urgency on his face now, walking around his desk towards them.  Ginny felt her curiosity spike amongst her once again rising panic.  Krum seemed to be much more aware of the fact that they weren't just part of Malfoy's mind than anyone else.  Well, save the Queen of the Chipmunks of course.  "Take this."  He shoved the newly fixed watch back into Malfoy's hands then placed his hand on her shoulder.  "The exit's over here."

            He guided her towards a door hidden behind a shelf of clocks.  He opened it for them and ushered her through, Malfoy following closely.  "Take the stairs up, and hurry."

            Ginny looked at the stairs.  They were well lit, unlike the others had been.  She grinned in slight relief then turned back towards Krum.  "Thank-" she began but he had already shut the door behind them.  "You," she muttered.

            She stared at the door for a moment then turned to Malfoy, who was looking down at the gold object resting in his hand.  "I don't understand," he said quietly, not looking up at her.  "How could fixing it change anything?"

            "I don't know," Ginny replied honestly, not knowing exactly what to do.  Malfoy was acting pensive again.  Something she knew from experience wasn't an entirely good thing when it came to escaping.  "But we have to go before the minions break down this door as well."  

            Then Ginny did something she didn't think she was capable of doing: she reached out and closed Malfoy's hand around his family heirloom and moved his now closed hand towards his pocket.  He put it back in there on his own, but she never let go of his hand.  When he finally looked up at her she saw that the solid mask that he had seemed to have developed over the years was cracking slightly.  She could see the confusion in his eyes.  The worry.  There was something else as well but she couldn't identify it.  She didn't have time.

            "Please, Draco," she said softly, tightening her grip on his hand.  "Let's just get out of here."  He continued to stare at her but shook his head and then gripped her hand back.  With a nod, he turned with her towards the stairs and they started up, hand in hand.

            This stair case seemed shorted than the other, but perhaps it was just the fact that there wasn't the immediate fear that the queen's minions were going to break trough and attack them from behind.  They had some time now, thanks to Krum.  When they reached the top of them, they encountered yet another door.  Malfoy silently opened it, and led her through it.  There was another flash of light and Ginny looked around in awe.

            "What is this place?" she asked in wonder, looking at the hundreds of lovely plants sitting all about in what seemed to be a greenhouse.  They were beautiful, and smelt as wonderful as they looked.  And as far as Ginny could tell, there was nothing sinister about them, unlike everything else that seemed to be in Malfoy's mind.

            "A room I used to frequent," Malfoy replied, letting go of her hand and brushing his long fingers against the petals of a nearby plant.  Ginny stopped and stared at him.

            "No offense, Malfoy," she said dryly, resisting the urge to let her mouth hang open.  "But this doesn't exactly seem to be the sort of place you would go to willingly."

            "It doesn't, does it?"  He turned then and smirked at her.  "But where else would I have gotten all those flowers for you?"  

            Ginny's mouth did fall open this time.  He had always brought her the most beautiful flowers while they had dated at school.  They had been rare and exotic but he would never tell her where he was getting them from.  It had annoyed her at first, but she had eventually let her annoyance go and simply enjoyed the pretty gifts.

            "But..." Ginny began but trailed off, looking around.  It didn't quite make sense as to why this room was so cheerful as opposed to the rest of his mind, even with the new lighting brought about by the watch, Krum's room had been a dingy dungeon compared to this one.  Why was there such a difference?

            "I could never think of anything but you in here," he continued as though he hadn't heard her, a far off look going on his face.  If the room wasn't enough to floor her, that look was.  It was a look Draco Malfoy never wore unless he felt completely secure with where he was and who he was with.  Ginny felt something in her heart move.

            "And you can tell everybody this is your song," someone began to sing, the sound of sloshing water greeting her ears along with it.  "It may be quite simple but now that it's done, I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put it down in words."  Snape came into sight, a lopsided grin on his face as he strolled around, watering the flowers.  Ginny felt her eyes grow ever larger.  Snape was happy.  Snape, the bitter, cynical git who had lived a terribly dark life was happy.  Happy as though he didn't have a care in the world.  "How wonderful life is while you're in the world."

            Ginny looked to Malfoy who was now looking at his former potions master with an unreadable expression on his face.  Then she knew that when she got out of there that she would never, ever be the same.  Not only had she discovered things about Malfoy she never really wanted to know, had been chassed by things she never wanted to be chased by, witnessed things that she never so much wanted to hear about again, but now she had seen the worst of the lot: a happy Snape signing.  And not just any sort of music.  No.  He was singing Elton John.  Was there any sanity left in the blonde's head?

~*~

A/N: Well I think that is where I will end it today.  See?  I put in some D/G interaction that wasn't all bitter this time. Be happy with me now.  Please?  Anyhoo, please tell me what you thought.  Crazy?  Wrong?  Not coherent with the first three chapters?  Bah?

Many thanks to: **o0true0o, Azalai**(I don't watch tv, but Jaws was great. But I think I feel sorry for those people too...)**, redcrow, tulzdavampslayer**(I drew her, but I have to color her still. Bah. My friend Lallie is thinking of doing a musical. But then, she's thinking of writing a lot of things and I haven't seen any of it yet)**, mngolianporkchop(Thanks, that will help me when I'm done and I edit the whole thing :D)****, Queen of Night(In a good way I hope)****, wings_lupin, darkcow007(Well, you can still use it. Not like I'm the only one pulling Matrix rips on this site)**, Airiya**(Hmm, the Zorro part does have possibilities...)**, Hplov4eva, **and **Storm079**(Guess you're in luck, dear. And thanks for reviewing so much of my stuff! I feel so loved now! ~grin~)**.****

Oh!  And if you ever want to check for updates of any kind (art, writing, crazyness...) then please check out my LiveJournal!   And since it doesn't want to upload the bloody URL again (which is driving me up the wall and if anyone can help me with that, I would love you forever) please check my bio.  It's sitting at the bottom of it!  :p


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